Blood & Sympathy (FFVII: Vincent x OC)

Ch56 - Falling Apart

She was smiling far too much. She could tell she wasn't the only one who thought that this was strange. It felt so... so unfamiliar. She had explained everything. Sephiroth and Jocasta spent hours together that day. A day after so long when they saw each other again. She told him what Hojo had done to her. She told him about his real mother. Lucrecia. She tried to explain her best that it wasn't wholly Lucrecia's fault what had happened to him.

She told him about Vincent. How much he loved his mother once upon a time. She told him how she left him for Hojo. That they were all acts of confusion and guilt. That she never meant any of these. And it was true. Lucrecia never meant to end up like this. Sephiroth didn't ask about who his father was, and she thought it was best to leave that uncovered. He listened to the story silently. He nodded and looked at her trying to process the things that he never knew.

He remembered everything. He remembered how he'd almost doomed the Planet, and even though it wasn't even his fault, the guilt was drowning him. He didn't talk about it, but she could still see that. And when she told him of how she fell in the way of Cloud's sword and his body, that's when his eyes widened and the guilt engulfed him like a wildfire. He was both surprised and confused. Finally, somebody was willing to do that. Give their life for him. There was somebody who thought about him, who cared about him.

He couldn't refuse a bite from that chocolate. It brought back memories. Bittersweet memories of his childhood. Those nights that he'd spent with her, where she'd sleep beside him. It must've been so uncomfortable for her to stay still all night for him to sleep, but she still did it, and she would do it all, all over again if she had to.

He told her about becoming a War Hero, finishing the Wutai War. He told her about the SOLDIER training. About Angeal and Genesis, and Zack. The things that happened back then. How he wrongly thought that JENOVA was his mother. It was the only name he'd ever received when he'd ask. He was confused, and after the Nibelheim Incident, he'd come to believe it. Everything that happened on top of the Reactor of Mount Nibel let his mind vulnerable to the JENOVA cells that already resided into his body, and they took all the control and used him to spread chaos and suffering.

A knock came from the door of his room, and Vincent walked in. He opened his mouth to speak, but he lost his words, and for a second when he looked at Sephiroth. He looked just like her. Lucrecia. Sephiroth was the closest thing they had of her. The son of the woman that he once loved with all his might.

For a while, he thought his feelings were clear for Jocasta. But now he didn't feel sure. Not when he looked at the son of his beloved and a simple look was all it took for him to remind him of her. Lucrecia. He realized his lips were still parted and he'd instantly forgotten what he wanted to say. He couldn't help but wonder. What happened to Lucrecia? He hadn't asked Jocasta and she never brought it up. Did she die? Did she leave? She couldn't have disappeared just like that.

"I'm just... Just checking if everything's okay," He forced the words out even though he wasn't really sure if that really was the reason he was there. He'd forgotten it whatever that was.

"Seph, this is Vincent," Jocasta and Sephiroth approached him.

Sephiroth's eyes examined the gunman for a moment and he pursed his lips "You knew my mother,"

Vincent parted his lips to speak, but again he didn't know what to say to that. He urged himself to look away from him. Away from the pale brown bangs that fell on his face. A face like Lucrecia's. The chin, the nose, the hair. He didn't know why he felt so uncomfortable about it. Maybe him reminding of her was confusing him. It was reminding him of what he felt for her. Feelings he'd buried deep down when all he wanted was to stop feeling hurt anymore and embrace the love and warmth that Jocasta was giving him so openhandedly.